The ONE Thing You Need to Declutter Your Email
Is email controlling your life? Get organized with this one strategy.
Emails can bury us. If we aren’t careful or strategic, it can be easy to have hundreds or thousands of emails in our inbox. I have been there before and, when I’m not consciously working on it, end up there myself.
The most important thing you can do to wrangle your inbox is to use folders.
Depending on what email you use, you can search how to utilize folders on your specific platform. You can also use multiple email accounts for different purposes.
I have developed an elaborate folder scheme to keep myself organized across my inboxes.
But, not everyone needs so many folders. I have distilled my process down into six folders that you can use to start getting your email under control.
1. Need To Know
These are emails you need to have for informational purposes. They may not require a response at the moment, but the information in them is important. This can be work-related or emails that you are on with other people.
2. Follow-Up (Urgent and/or This Week)
This category is for emails that you need to reply to. I have two separate follow-up categories. One is labeled “Urgent” and needs to happen in the next 1–2 business days. The other is “This Week”, which is for things I need to respond to in the next 5–7 business days. Then, once they are replied to, I move them to their appropriate folder.
3. Family
This is for any family news, including photos, updates, subscriptions, school information, etc. You could also utilize a family email to keep track of this information, or, if you have kids, a separate email for each child.
But, what this does for you is it gives you a place for your more personal emails. It will also let you more easily find information about your family’s next visit.
4. Travel
I have this separate folder for travel information. I include any itineraries, confirmation emails, hotel information, reservations, etc. These are only for trips I am personally going on.
Any information about other people’s trips typically fall under “Family”. You can also use subfolders for specific trips to narrow it down even more.
5. Purchases
I cannot count the amount of times I have had to dig through my inboxes to find a shipping or order confirmation.
The money is gone from your account, but when is it getting to you?
This folder compiles all of that information as you get it and separates it from any marketing emails from the company.
6. Side Hustle
This last one depends on your needs. I use this to separate out any invoices, resources, and writing opportunities from the rest of my emails. It makes it easier for when I am sitting down to work to be able to go into one folder and work through anything that has come up.
If you have multiple income streams coming into one account, you could use subfolders or multiple separate folders for each business.
While there’s never a guarantee for results, I have personally seen a definitive change in my productivity since I started working with folders. I am less stressed out by my inbox and find it easier to get to important information.
I also am able to write more in my scheduled times because I am not sorting through emails to find what I am working on.
Get started using folders and help lessen the load in your inbox. Don’t let your email control you or stall you from your goals!
Read more about how you can reset your digital life and digital clutter here:
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